NO i am not the only one, wild alaska has posted too.
I used to work in a shop, we sold a ton of Sako's on reputation, the hunter 75 i have in 6 ppc may be the most accurate rifle I have ever shot. After the sale, we started to have problems show up in Tikka's and Sako, particularly as the models changed. Little things, inletting quality, checkering quality, feel of the bits that moved. etc, but the biggest was the
customer service, we had a customer who was a NRA hi power shooter, former employee of federal ammo, come in and buy a Tikka.
Three weeks later he returns with the gun in pieces. The barrel had split. We call the rep who gives us a number for customer service. We called, they start asking all sorts of silly questions, about where he was shooting, and not questions like was he hurt, or what ammo, or anything like that. He shoots Fed GM because he gets it for like 6 dollars a box at the company store.
Finally we get a shipping number and return number and send it back. after 6 weeks, we start calling, he starts calling, and he's getting pissed. We front him a new rifle or refund on our own, not wanting to lose a great customer. 6 months later, we are still calling, 9 months same thing.
Finally just under a year later, we get a call saying they were going to replace the barrel, at his (our ) cost, as he had an obstructed bore. We say ahhh NO, he did not have an obstructed bore, the rifle barrel blew. He was a fanatical record keeper, and he did not have any "missing" shots from a squib load. "oh hmmmmm, let me talk to a supervisor" was the response. Two days later we call, we never heard back from the supervisor. WE get a supervisor on the phone, boss gets really irritated with the supervisor, then tells them to send the rep, as we were pulling the remaining 35 or so of their guns off the wall and returning them. Suddenly the offer changes, gee, we can probably write this one off under customer relations. When we get the rifle back, its UGLY. Who ever did the job was a goon. We returned it to the rep, who replaced it with a new from stock rifle.
Last year, when I was just filling in, we had a guy order two matching Hunters, he was going to alaska, and wanted him and his son to have the perfect guns. The guns ordered were the laminated hunters. When they showed up, they were pathetic. first both had handling marks. Both had uneven matting or blasting patterns on the barrel and actions. Inletting was done by a blind spastic using a fork. I know laminated stocks are at times prone to little chips where the layers are meeting, but this was beyond that, and had someone spend three minutes and filled the divots with epoxy, no one would have noticed, but it was ugly. One rifle still had machining chips in the mag well. The front sling post on the other was off center, and looked to be a turn too deep, crushing down the grain. finally, the butt pad on the same gun was not sanded smooth to the line of the stock. It was close, but for a gun that cost well over a grand, and sold for nearly 1300 bucks, it was not right. We called the local distributor, who said they only had one other in stock, and we could exchange it if we wanted. it was just as bad. Distributor was also willing to say that they were having all sorts of trouble with them as well.
Before the buyout, we sold about 75 to 100 sako a year. he does not carry them anymore.
. The cooper after i get out of college with my DR lol, that cooper custom classic is what 3000$. Thanks for the feedback guys has really helped, ill still look out for a good deal on a sako.